The Hershey Company, global producer of chocolates and snacks, has appointed Geetika Mehta as managing director, India, with effect from July 1, 2021. Mehta moves from Unilever, where she was general manager, Home & Hygiene (India) & regional brand director (South Asia).
Mehta is a seasoned leader backed by more than 18 years of experience across commercial and consumer marketing. Having held important leadership roles in FMCG and food businesses for more than a decade, she managed various categories including soups, noodles and spice mixes. She has also led the laundry detergents category for Unilever in South Asia, Thailand, Brazil and South Africa. In her previous role at Unilever, Mehta was responsible for delivering annual P&L and long-term business health (market shares, brand health, innovation pipeline). Under her leadership, Home & Hygiene became the fastest growing category in Hindustan Unilever.
Having joined Unilever in May 2003, as part of the Unilever Future Leaders Programme, she became customer development manager, India, within 11 months. By 2006, she was the brand development manager, New Vitality Platform, South Asia. Within a decade, she took on the position of regional brand director, Home & Hygiene, South Asia and in another three years, took on additional responsibility as GM, Home & Hygiene. In her 18-year long successful tenure at Unilever, she managed to deliver significant improvements in brand equity, market shares & marketing capability, especially in Digital.
Herjit Bhalla, VP, India and AEMEA, The Hershey Company, expressed confidence in Mehta saying, “ With a proven track record of building and nurturing small businesses and leading growth for large businesses and driving profitability and turnaround, I am confident that Geetika will successfully lead the Hershey India team into the next phase of growth, scale and evolution.”
